Traditional retarder brake systems are based on the carrying out of a motor braking, which makes it possible to delay a vehicle that is driven by means of a combustion engine without actuating corresponding wheel brake devices. With vehicle combinations, this can lead to problems since a trailer attached to the vehicle remains unbraked in such a case and acts, from behind, by pushing onto the vehicle. In traveling over a slope, this can lead to an undesired giving way of the vehicle combination (“jackknifing”) in combination with a correspondingly high mass of the trailer. Corresponding observations are valid for the retarder devices that are normally separate in use with trucks.
On the other hand, electrically driven attachments and additional devices are increasingly important, especially in the agricultural field. Electrically driven trailers also belong here, i.e., those with electrical drive axles, which, above all, in the execution of transporting work, are characterized by improved traction and energy efficiency. Such an electrical drive axle for an agricultural trailer is, for example, offered by the Fliegl Company under the name “Power DriveElect.”